Brum laid bare on OpenStreetMap

Birmingham has joined Berlin, Canberra, Paris and Vienna in falling in its entirety to the cartographical skills of locals who've "completely digitally remapped" the city - in the process elevating it to the first British location to enjoy full-fat coverage on OpenStreetMap.

The press release explains that the map was created "by local people, with local knowledge, who take pride in how their neighbourhoods are represented". They're described as "a dedicated band of 100 volunteers has been collecting GPS data whilst cycling, walking, and riding the buses and trains", and who've pinpointed "15,000 residential roads, 6,000 footpaths and 9,000 other roads" as well as "over 700 bus stops, 300 pubs, 200 traffic lights and 300 postboxes".

Andy Robinson, secretary of the OpenStreetMap Foundation and "a prolific mapper in the West Midlands", enthused: "It's very satisfying to see a complete city mapped in OpenStreetMap. Four years ago when this project was created we were looking at a blank screen and most commentators thought we were crazy."

According to the OpenStreetMap Foundation, the UK-spawned project has to date attracted 85,000 volunteers worldwide, who've so far "mapped almost 14 million miles of road globally". There's more info available here. ®